Clear Springs Trail

Clear Springs Trail is a 11.1 mile lightly trafficked loop trail located near Roxie, Mississippi that features a river and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.

DISTANCE

11.1 miles

ELEVATION GAIN

1312 feet

ROUTE TYPE

Loop

dogs on leash

backpacking

camping

fishing

hiking

mountain biking

trail running

forest

river

blowdown

bugs

20+ Miles of Mountain Biking/Hiking Trails. Located south of Meadville, MS in the Homochitto National Forest. The Trail system is a ride in ride out facility. The Clear Springs park has 22 full hook-up campsites & 22 primitive sites.

Probably one of Mississippi's best hidden gems. This trail is extremely well maintained and you wander through beautiful forests and see a lot of great spots to hang out in the water. Trail is a bit rough for those just beginning so I would suggest being moderately fit if you plan to hike the entire length. Start early so you won't be hiking through the night like I did, unless you're like me and enjoy a good moonlight hike.

We made a trip to hike the Clear Springs trails but a few signs said the trails were closed. We ended up hiking the Lake trail, only about a mile long. It's a nice little walk around the lake. After we hiked the lake trail we chose to deviate from the trails, since the area is small enough and getting lost would be hard to do, so we followed "Richardson Creek" for about half a mile. That made the trip a lot more interesting to us.
Our experience was ok, it would have been a lot nicer if the owner of a large Boxer would have kept his dog on a leash. While on the Lake trail his large dog charged us from behind with the intent to attack, had I not turned around sooner it would have been an awful day.
Note to fellow hikers, if this dog would have been a few feet closer it would have been a deadly day for the dog. In the woods I don't play around with a strange(rs) dog, I will defend myself with deadly force.

We did the Mill Creek Trail. There was a sign that said all trails were closed until further notice but it was in a really strange place so we weren't sure about that.

The trail (at least Mill Creek) is little more than a game trail at this point, but it's not hard to follow. I would wait until the fall when some of the brush starts dying and it's cool enough for pants. It's really overgrown; the briars were relentless.

Bugs weren't an issue with some spray. We also ended up within 20 feet of a deer.

There are some small streams. I filled a bottle from one and it was fine, but drink at your own risk.

The Clear Springs Trail is more of a trail system, currently only consisting of 3 trails (the 4th is currently closed). This was confusing for me initially.

The trails are well marked. I think some of the comments on here regarding them not being well marked may be due to the confusion of the multiple trails. The trails are for the most part well maintained and clear. However, I will say that certain sections were overgrown. All bridges intact. Plenty of water sources. I wore plenty of mosquito spray and still got destroyed by bugs, mostly chiggers. Fair amount of wildlife- box turtle, 2 water moccasins, and multiple cool insects, including a millipede. Only saw 2 mountain bikers on the trail in the 2 days I was there. There is a usage fee that you pay using the honor system. I don't know why this trail is listed as "hard"...I'm not super experienced...did the 3 open trails and found it very easy. Not very steep hills at all (not expecting much from MS).

Is the Clear Springs, Mississippi Recreation Area closed? I just looked at their website and there was a message saying that the recreation area is "closed until further notice due to plumbing issues". Anyone know if this is true? We are planning to tent camp there next week.

We tried to hike, but the trails were unclear and it was full of bugs. It was gorgeous from the car. We drove along all of the dirt and unimproved roads, but anytime we got out of the car we were assaulted by bugs. Being from TX I am a bit biased, but it is a million times better not having the bugs.

We had an amazing trip this past weekend. Brought out mtn bikes and rode about 8 miles around the park. We found ourselves on Tally's Trail and Mill Road for a bit and I would suggest hiking these instead of biking- there are many roots. We did see that Tally's was closed from in the park area. It was not closed towards the primitive area and we couldn't find another connector while trying to find the Richardson Trail, so we took it. The trails are marked and there are maps at most of the intersections. We just had a hard time finding the trails connecting once we hit the fire roads. We finally found Richardson and it is the best trail for biking. We did about 7 miles before we ran out of water, so we headed back. Found a cool creek to relax in and then carried on our way. The area is all rolling hills and the trail was cleared. The smell of pine in the backwoods in so prevalent! We hiked the Clear Springs Trail (1 mile) and took the connector to Mill Branch Trail. It was cleared for the most part and the bridges are all fixed. Its a huge park! We decided to camp by the lake, but the primitive spots were well off the beaten path. I suggest going out to the lake at night to star gaze. We could not believe how visible the stars were. We witnessed a quick meteor shower and saw the Milky Way while laying on the decks.

Nice easy trail not too far from NOLA. This definitely wasn't very challenging but there's a lot of miles to cover and plenty of off trail game trails and hills of you want to venture off the trail. The trail is very well marked. I expected it not to be having read other reviews on here but I grabbed a trail map at the trailhead and followed the wooden arrow signs and had no issues. The trail forks about 3 minutes in from the trailhead. We did the loop to the lake (stay to the right). Was very scenic. Tons of wildlife. I would definitely do this trail again. Go with plenty of day light as there is a lot of trail to cover if you have the time. Warning! Google maps will take you to the completely wrong spot. Follow directions on here and grab a paper map. Easy to find it you're not following Google.